Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/533

 INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 515

'E knows each talkin' corpril that leads a squad astray;

'E feels 'is innards 'eavin', 'is bowels givin' way;

'E sees the blue-white faces all tryin' 'ard to grin,

An' 'e stands an' waits an' suffers till it's time to cap 'em in.

An' now the hugly bullets come peckin' through the dust, An' no one wants to face 'em, but every beggar must; So, like a man in irons, which isn't glad to go, They moves 'em off by companies uncommon stiff an' slow.

Of all 'is five years' schoolin' they don't remember much

Excep' the not retreatin', the step an' keepin' touch.

It looks like teachin' wasted when they duck an' spread an'

'op But if 'e 'adn't learned 'em they'd be all about the shop.

An' now it's "'Oo goes backward?" an* now it's "'Oo comes

on ? "

And now it's "Get the doolies," an' now the Captain's gone; An' now it's bloody murder, but all the while they 'ear 'Is voice, the same as barrick-drill, a-shepherdin' the rear.

'E's just as sick as they are, 'is 'eart is like to split,

But 'e works 'em, works 'em, works 'em till he feels 'em take

the bit;

The rest is 'oldin' steady till the watchful bugles play, An' 'e lifts 'em, lifts 'em, lifts 'em through the charge that

wins the day!

The 'eathen in 'is blindness bows down to wood an 1 stone;

'E don't obey no orders unless they is 'is own.

The 'eathen in 'is blindness must end where 'e began.

But the backbone of the Army is the Non-commissioned Man!

Keep away from dirtiness keep away from mess. Don't get into doin' things rather-more-or-less I Let 's ha' done with abby-nay, kul, and hazar-ho; Mind you keep your rifle an' yourself jus' so !